1 Thessalonians 2:13-20
Welcoming, Following, Enduring, & Encouraging
Transition: We are studying an important book that was intended to help give us hope in knowing that Jesus is coming again. That book is... 1 Thessalonians.
1. Key Themes and Topics in this book include...
a) Praying over others.
b) The Second Coming of our Lord.
c) Hope in knowing the Lord is coming again.
d) Our hope should yield holiness.
e) The call to Live a God-centered life until He does come again.
Let's read our passage: 1 Thessalonians 2:13-20 (NKJV)i And Pray
1. You could summarize our passage today with these 4 words: Welcoming, Following, Enduring, and Encouraging.
2. Two weeks ago, we saw that Paul was approved by God, walking worthy of Him.
a) In Vs 12 Paul tells us that we have been called by God into His kingdom & glory.
1 Thessalonians 2:13: 13 For this reason we also thank God without ceasing, because when you received the word of God which you heard from us, you welcomed it not as the word of men, but as it is in truth, the word of God, which also effectively works in you who believe.
1. Though Paul is writing these words, he is also praying them over the believers in Thessalonica, thanking God without ceasing for His work in their lives.
i) Can I encourage and exhort you to be intentional about spending time praying for your brothers and sisters in Christ?
ii) Don't just say you'll pray for them, make time to do it.
2. Paul's thankful the believers received the word of God.
a) They recognized Paul's message was not of men, but was in truth, the word of God.
b) The word received means to join to one's self.
i) Have you been at the Mall... Someone hands you a flier - you've received it, but you subsequently throw it away?
ii) This word goes well beyond that!
iii) The believers also welcomed the word.
(1) That word welcomed means to take with the hand.
c) The first word Welcoming to summarize our passage is to remind you that we should be welcoming the word of God into our lives like those in Thessalonica.
i) We should be taking it in our hands and joining it to ourselves.
3. Yesterday we had our Men's Breakfast - The emphasis was on the Word!
a) Jon Courson, "People ask why we spend so much time teaching Bible studies...? It is because we firmly believe that this is the very Word of God, and that it will radically alter and influence any person who spends time in its pages."
b)Romans 1:16 For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for it is the power of God to salvation for everyone
who believes, for the Jew first and also for the Greek.
4. Notice at the end of Vs 13 it says the word of God effectively works in you.
a) It hasn't changed in thousands of years, yet it keeps changing the lives of those who read it!!!
Gideons International storyii: My name is Satabdi. I was born in an orthodox Hindu family in Calcutta, India. My family believes all religions lead to the same path and all gods are the same spirit by different names.
Every year, we were visited by Gideons who gave us blue New Testaments. Soon, my interest in the little book pricked my conscience and I decided to read it. After reading the Gospels, I began to favor the words of the Lord and thought He was like one of the Hindu gurus.
However, when I came to the book of Romans, God's Word changed my heart. I realized I had been idolatrous, and I was a sinner. I was amazed how a book written over 2,000 years ago could exactly depict modern society.
I continued reading Romans and realized all my efforts to be a religious person were in vain. In Chapter 3, I read how fully immersed I was in sin-from head to toe. I reasoned in my mind how God could be holy and still accept me. Then it hit me-God could not accept me the way I was living. Then, my eyes fell on this passage:
"For while we were still weak, at the right time Christ died for the ungodly. For one will scarcely die for a righteous person-though perhaps for a good person one would dare even to die-but God showed his love for us in that while we were still sinners, Christ died for us." -Romans 5:6-8 (ESV)
The depths of God's love for me was written in those verses. Because of all the sins I committed, my Lord suffered and died. Through reading His Word I believed in the Lord Jesus.
I didn't know any believers back then. My spiritual journey has not always been smooth, but the Lord has always been with me in a very special way. He proved to me again and again how His Word is true, even when there was no one else to tell me about it.
I wanted to share my joy with the millions of perishing people who have no knowledge of God. So I began asking God to show me His will. After receiving a Masters degree in Theology, I began serving the Lord as a missionary in various parts of northern India.
b) God's word is powerful and effectively works in you!
i) We need to get in the word and let the word get in us so it can effectively work in us and those around us.
1 Thessalonians 2:14-16: 14 For you, brethren, became imitators of the churches of God which are in Judea in Christ Jesus. For you also suffered the same things from your own countrymen, just as they did from the Judeans, 15 who killed both the Lord Jesus and their own prophets, and have persecuted us; and they do not please God and are contrary to all men, 16 forbidding us to speak to the Gentiles that they may be saved, so as always to fill up the measure of their sins; but wrath has come upon them to the uttermost.
1. Here Paul calls the believers in Thessalonica brethren.
a) In the preceding verses Paul spoke of motherly and fatherly love. Now he transitions into brotherly love.
b) Though Paul had spent only about a month with the believers in Thessalonica, they shared a strong bond in Christ. A brother and sisterhood.
c) Do you think of the people around you right now, sitting in front of you, beside you, and behind you as brothers and sisters or just people you see on Sunday?
i) Christ intends that we live as family, not just fellow frequenters of church.
ii) How well do you know your family here? How can you get to know them better?
2. Paul writes that these brethren became imitators of the churches of God which are in Judea in Christ Jesus.
a) The word imitators can also be translated as followers. It carries the idea of emulating another.
i) In the Greek it is: µιµητής [mimetes /mim·ay·tace/] & Paul used this word often:
(1) 1 Corinthians 4:16 Therefore I urge you, imitate me.
(2) 1 Corinthians 11:1 Imitate me, just as I also imitate Christ.
(3) Philippians 3:17 Brethren, join in following my example, and note those who so walk, as you have us for a pattern.
b) The second word to summarize our passage is Following and it reminds us that we should be following, imitating, and emulating the Christ-like examples we see inside the church.
3. The third word to summarize our passage is Enduring and that is because as Christians we will be Persecuted.
a) Paul speaks of the persecution that was taking place in Judea, central Israel.
b) Why did the Jews hate Christians? Well Paul informs us that they had a history of killing their own prophets?!
c)The believers in Thessalonica were being persecuted by the Greeks just as the church in Judea was being persecuted by the Jews.
i) They weren't alone and what they faced was not odd.
ii) There is comfort in knowing that you are not alone.
iii) The conference has encouraging teaching, but probably what is most encouraging is that you get to talk with others who are struggling and you realize that your personal difficulties are not unique.
4. Both the Jews and Greeks tried to forbid the early Christians from speaking to the Gentiles that they may be saved.
a) How did the early church respond to such demands?
b) Acts 4:18-20 18 So they called them and commanded them not to speak at all nor teach in the name of Jesus. 19 But Peter and John answered and said to them, "Whether it is right in the sight of God to listen to you more than to God, you judge. 20 For we cannot but speak the things which we have seen and heard."
c) I think of Jeremiah who faced a similar situation.
i) He had been persecuted and imprisoned for speaking the word of God... Jeremiah 20:9 Then I said, "I will not make mention of Him, Nor speak anymore in His name." But His word was in my heart like a burning fire Shut up in my bones; I was weary of holding it back, And I could not.
ii) This is an example of the word of God working effectively in you.
1 Thessalonians 2:17 17 But we, brethren, having been taken away from you for a short time in presence, not in heart, endeavored more eagerly to see your face with great desire.
1. Again Paul declares brethren! And you can see his true heart and concern for the believers in Thessalonica.
a) Paul, Silas, and Timothy were physically forced to leave the city, but their heart was still there with them.
1 Thessalonians 2:18 18 Therefore we wanted to come to you-even I, Paul, time and again-but Satan hindered us.
1. John MacArthur writes that Scripture mentions many ways that Satan opposes the kingdom of God:
a) He tempted Christ
b) He opposes the gospel
c) He performs counterfeit miracles
d) He seeks to deceive believers
e) He perpetrates lies and murders
f) He attacks individual churches
g) He especially attacks spiritual leaders
2. The word hindered is a military term referring to digging a trench or breaking up a road.
a) We have Satan to thank for the wonderful letters of Paul in our N.T.
i) Had Paul been free to travel where he wished he would have visited all these churches in person.
ii) But instead, Paul was hindered and was forced to write much of the N.T. not just for the church in that day, but for our edification and growth today as well.
b) God has a way of taking the evil that Satan produces in this world and flipping it for our good and His glory.
c) C.H. Spurgeon, "Supposing that we have ascertained that hindrances in our way really come from Satan, WHAT THEN? I have but one piece of advice, and that is, go on, hindrance or no hindrance, in the path of duty as God the Holy Ghost enables you."
1 Thessalonians 2:19-20 19 For what is our hope, or joy, or crown of rejoicing? Is it not even you in the presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at His coming? 20 For you are our glory and joy.
1. The fourth and final word that summarizes our passage is Encouraging.
a) The works of faith, labors of love, and the patience of hope that the believers in Thessalonica had encouraged Paul.
i) They had become Paul's crown of rejoicing, glory and joy.
2. Life Application Bible Commentary: The ultimate reward for Paul's ministry was not money, prestige, or fame but new believers whose lives had been changed by God through the preaching of the gospel. This was why he longed to see them. No matter what ministry God has given to you, your highest reward and greatest joy should be those who come to believe in Christ and are growing in him.
Conclusion: What's the big take away from this passage?
1. Our passage... Welcoming, Following, Enduring, & Encouraging.
a) Welcoming the Word into our lives so it can do it's effective work in us.
b) Following the examples of other Christ-like followers in the body of Christ.
c) Enduring persecution, knowing that God is sovereign and in control.
i) What was meant for evil toward you, God can use for good.
d) Encouraging others by the way we live our lives.
i) We aren't perfect, but we encourage others by the way we follow the One who is perfect!
Invitation: Revelation 3:20 Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears My voice and opens the door, I will come in to him and dine with him, and he with Me.
i All scripture references, unless otherwise noted, are taken from The New King James Version. (1982). Nashville: Thomas Nelson.
ii http://blog.gideons.org/2015/02/discovering-jesus-is-not-just-another-god/
